Genealogical Gems

It was On This Day in 1959 that Alaska became the 49 th US state. The headline of the Daily News-Miner screamed “Statehood Proclaimed by Ike.” William A Egan took his oath that day as the Alaska ’s first governor. There were, according to the Daily News-Miner, no loud celebrations or big ceremonies that day. The fanfare had all been done in June 1958 when the US Senate approved the admission of the Territory and President Dwight D Eisenhower signed the proclamation. The road to statehood was a long one. Alaska had been purchased from Russia in 1867 for $7,200,000, known then as Seward’s Folly. Alaska contained 586,400 square miles and spanned four time zones. The state is more than twice as big as Texas , proclaimed the Daily Republic out of South Dakota . Sources Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Fairbanks , Alaska . 3 January 1959. The Daily Republic . Mitchell , South Dakota . 3 January 1959. On This Day is a prompt to further exp...

November is National Native American Heritage Month and the Native Alaskans are included as well. So, I have been keeping an eye out for relevant articles. Today, while searching for an On This Day post, I found an article about an entire village being destroyed.   The brief article, published in the Lancaster Daily Intelligencer ( Lancaster , PA ) on 13 November 1882,   was a dispatch from Victoria , British Columbia in Canada . The dispatch read: The United States revenue cutter Thomas Corwin, which has arrived from the North, brings particulars of the recent fight with Indians and the destruction of a villagel. The village destroyed was located at Hochinoo, on the Alaskan coast. The tribe had seized and held two white men and a steam launch which had been sent out for whales. The tribe surrounded and captured the launch with two white men and nearly succeeded in getting possession of the tug. The later, however, got away and steamed to Stika.   On 9 Nov...